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World Cup 2006 Blog Day 13
10/07/2006: Italy have won World Cup 2006 after the final was decided on penalties with Zinedine Zidane sent off for a Zidane head-butt during extra time.
Nothing could separate these two sides after half an hour of extra-time and this time, the dreaded penalty shootout defeated France who were arguably the better team over the 120 minutes.
The big talking point of the game however was the moment of madness during the second half of extra-time from Zinedine Zidane that ended his French career in disgrace. He was dismissed after a blatant head-butt on Italian defender Marco Materazzi.
The France skipper's night started well, after he was gifted a penalty when Materazzi caught Florent Malouda in the box. He coolly chipped the penalty and must have had his heart in his mouth as the ball bounced off the crossbar and only just crossed the line.
The lead only lasted 13 minutes however as Materazzi redeemed himself with a powerful header off Andrea Pirlo's corner.
Pirlo delivered exactly the same corner twice again in the first half, the first of which found Materazzi again. This time, his header was hacked away from goal by Claude Makelele and the second picked out Luca Toni whose header rattled the crossbar.
The second period saw France come back alive. Thierry Henry burst through the Italy defence several times but his final ball never had the cutting edge, often due to a lack of support.
The Italians did find the back of the net in the second half through a header from Toni, but the big strikers' celebrations were cut short by the linesman's offside flag.
On 58 minutes, Patrick Vieria walked dejectedly off the field with hamstring difficulties and after that, the game had extra-time written all over it.
Pirlo thought he had grabbed a winner for Italy from a free-kick in the last 15 minutes, but his shot missed by a matter of inches.
During extra-time, the players appeared to be dying on their feet. Franck Ribery had a good opportunity for France but he sent his shot just wide of Buffon's post.
Henry, who had run himself ragged throughout the game, was brought off just after the interval as he had no legs left in him to be replaced by David Trezeguet.
Then came a moment that Zidane will not want to see again. After all of the magic he produced in his career, it ended with the veteran losing his head. He head-butted Materazzi in the chest and the referee, who did not see the incident, had to speak to all of the officials before making a decision. In the end, he was shown the red card.
The game went to penalties and France already had three capable penalty takers in Henry, Zidane and Vieira off the pitch.
Pirlo, Wiltord and Materazzi each converted their penalties and as David Trezeguet stepped up, the score was 2-1 Italy. His penalty hit the bar and the following five penalties were all superb.
Fabio Grosso scored the decisive penalty, sending Fabien Barthez the wrong way and leaving the result as 5-3 to Italy.
Fabio Cannavaro lifted the World Cup for Italy, who are the most successful European country in the competition. They have now won the World Cup four times - just one less than Brazil to joyous scenes in Berlin.
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Comments on: World Cup 2006 Blog Day 13
11/07/2006: The referee atleast should have asked the reason that provoked Zidane before sending him off. The italian player played like a hypocrate for instigating zidane and probably insulting his family as told by lip readers. Why such a super star is send off with a red card based on one video clip or noticing of fourth empire. The italian player must know that he is there to play, not to insult. Sports teach discipline and self respect. To win world cup one not only needs to win the game but also to win hearts of people with proper attitude, and this is what we call Sportsman spirit. No one can tolerate insult to his or her family. Zidane is a human being who reacted to an inhuman remark by the italian. George bush once asked that why he is against iraq and saddam, he retorted that After all Sadam wanted to kill my father. Well if the president of arsenal of democracy is so possessive for his family that he can make it a national issue , then why not a super star from a nation with clarion call of liberty, equality and fratenity cannot react for his possession of his family. The world cup clip for anti rascim seems a farce if no action was taken against the italian of insulting a person and his family with filthy and unprofessional remark. 70 years ago in the same olympic stadium Hitler made racist remark in the olympic (1936) and is widely condemned for that, but now an insultive remark is made against one super star's family which is and equivalent as rascim and pragmatic action must be taken. Italy, you won the world cup but Zidane won the hearts. long live Soccer.
11/07/2006: I agree, Italy, Fabio Grosso, & Materazzi in particular, have proved themselves cheats in the worst of possible ways, from taking a dive, to insulting slurs. He knew what he was doing when he spoke to Zidane, he was trying to get him sent off, and targeted the remark in such a way as to provoke an extreme response.He got what he wanted, and Italy will go down not as the best players in the minds of the world (unless you're Italian) , but as the best cheats.FOOTBALL HAS REACHED AN ALL TIME LOW
12/07/2006: Zidane has made a worse fool of himself by apologizing with no regrets. It send a message that violence in the name of revenge is OK, the act of taunting in athletics works. He says he's a man first, ok then he's just a man - he placed himself above the game of soccer, the nation of France and the cup finals. He should be stripped of the golden ball and lowered to the status of a average man that could play a great game of soccer - just a small footnote. Good-Bye - Good Luck, now go away
16/07/2006: Zidane is an idiot. And so are whoever wrote those first two comments.
05/11/2006: I agree with the first two comments you two people who wrote the last comments are dumb theres no room in soccer for people like you who have no self respect or proper discipline
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